1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video signal editing apparatus and, more particularly, it relates to a video signal editing apparatus for carrying out an editing operation by using video signals which are combined to display a plurality of separate, independent moving scenes on a single screen.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, in a process of editing a plurality of video signals to produce a single video signal derived from such video signals, a plurality of video tape recorders (hereinafter referred to as VTRs) must be used and the number of VTRs must be equal to the number of video signals supplied for the editing operation. When one or more than one of the plurality of video signals are selected for switching or synthesizing scenes, the video signals are transmitted through a time base collector (hereinafter referred to as a TBC) to synchronize the signals before carrying out the switching or synthesizing operation.
However, a known editing apparatus adapted to perform editing operations requires the use of a number of VTRs for receiving video signals and a number of monitors for previewing images to be edited, with the number of VTRs and monitors having to correspond to the number of video signals to be edited. As a result, such a system is very bulky and costly. In addition, because such a system includes so many components, it is difficult to find a space for installing such a bulky system. Furthermore, such an editing apparatus is often structurally very complicated and costly since the video signals to be edited have to be synchronized by using a number of TBCs that comprise costly image memories. Still further, the editing operation using such an apparatus is often inefficient and time consuming because the VTRs have to be started to run well before the desired scenes appear on the respective screens of the monitors in order to synchronize the video signals to be edited.